Fitness regimes of 5 successful women

I love pilates and yoga, I tend to alternate between the two and have two fabulous London based centres: Carme Farre at Studio Carme for pilates and Saskia Vidler for a yoga session at home. Saskia also runs classes at the TriYoga centre.

I now take my classes alone, I suffer with hyper-mobility and so to prevent injury I prefer one-to-one classes. The days I do not have a class I will go through some stretches at home and try to walk to as many appointments as I can. My days of big studio classes are gone. When we are away for the summer there is nothing I like more than getting up and walking for a couple of miles along the coast

I have always been active and as a teenager I loved tennis. With my children getting older and now having tennis lessons I will definitely be playing more in the summer. For seven years after having children, I had all but given up any formal type of exercise through lack of time and energy. My only real exercise at that time was walking but that was weather and children permitting! I am not a huge fan of gyms but can really feel the benefit of strengthening my body and enhancing my wellbeing achieved through pilates and yoga. I have also taken time out to look at my nutrition and the supplements I take and am feeling better than I have done for years.

I am definitely feeling the positives of being physically stronger, I think having three children quite close together takes its toll on the body, this coupled with years of standing to do hair colour had really affected my posture and I had recurring neck and head tension problems including crippling migraines. These are all but alleviated now having improved my core strength, alignment and general feeling of wellbeing. That has a knock-on effect in that I have more energy which helps when looking after seven children ( I have three children and four step-children!). I try to build time into my morning routine before I get on with my working day.

If you can't or don't want/need to have your hair straightened (which I do to rid myself of "the frizz") then at least purchase some L'Kerabelle shampoo and conditioner. Originally designed for those who have used a hair straightener, it works miracles on any tired "fried" locks. Plus, it makes blow drying a breeze. Otherwise, I'm a huge fan of Louise Galvin's deep-conditioning treatment and Philip Kingsley's Elasticizer, a pre-wash hair treatment created initially for Audrey Hepburn. Case closed.

Louise Galvin is one of the UK’s leading colourists and daughter of the legendary Daniel Galvin at whose London salon she is based. I asked her why brunettes have difficulty when covering grey?

Brunettes find it much harder to cope with those first grey hairs; vegetable colours can end up grabbing the ends, highlights can go too brassy. What do you advise?

“I always carefully paint out those first few greys with a little colour for as long as possible. Less is more in this instance but too many colourists will insist on a full colour at the first sign of grey – too much and not necessary.”

What are the general guidelines in choosing colours when you have 50 per cent grey or more?

“I often do highlights and then paint colour between the lights to cover grey, using the lighter grey tone as your lightest ‘light’ to add contrast and allowing the grey to shine through as a natural tonal light. Colour glosses really help at this stage of the greying process to blend and soften grey with a translucent colour.”

A bad hair colour can age you. For example, if you go too dark, it can emphasis lines and wrinkles. While going too light can drain you. How can you hold back the years?

“Condition! Condition! Condition! Hair that is well conditioned and glossy is always more youthful. Try my Sacred Locks Intensive Treatment Masque (£26, louisegalvin.com) once or twice a week. This really infuses the hair with moisture and nourishment. Improving the health of the scalp as well as nourishing hair and taming frizz, the silicone free formulation is created to deeply condition the hair without weighing it down. When colouring, we keep the hairline a shade lighterthan the rest of the hair to ‘light’ the eyes and create a pretty soft halo effect.”

Highlights or a single process?

“Everyone’s hair is unique, I personally prefer to highlight hair for as long as possible. However as the hair becomes greyer (75 per cent or more) a single process is usually required to truly cover grey. But I still like to add some lights throughout to add movement.”

What are the pitfalls of colouring dark hair at home?

"Choosing the wrong colour. So many people think they are a light brown but are in fact a dark blonde. There is a big difference and we have so many people contacting us about our Louise Galvin Hair Colour Remover (£14.95, louisegalvin.com) to help remove a too dark colour without damaging the hair.

Also, many home colours are sold as semi-permanent when in fact they are permanent colours. Remember: if you have to mix two bottles together, this is a PERMANENT colour and will need to grow out rather than wash out or fade over time.”

If you do want to do it yourself, how do you choose the right shade from the rows of shelves in the supermarket/chemist?

“I would always recommend going to a salon for a professional consultation – most good salons offer a free colour consultation. Really listen to the colours they are suggesting and ask lots of questions.”

What about touching up roots yourself in between salon visits?

"I haven’t yet found anything that is widely available that I think is great. But, if you find something that works for you, this is fine. Old traditional Roux sticks (£7), available from pharmacy shops such as John Bell & Croyden (johnbellcroyden.co.uk) can be good. A great tip for ‘emergency cover’ is Batiste Dry Shampoo for Brunettes, Blondes etc (£3.99, Boots). These will help until you can get to your colourist.”

There are always stories in the press about the risk of using hair dye, especially if you are a brunette. Please comment.

“Unfortunately, hair colour is a chemical so it is important to always do a patch test, particularly if you have sensitive skin.”

How do you keep dyed hair healthy?

“Use gentle products that don’t strip colour. My own range of products, Louise Galvin Sacred Locks and Natural Locks (louisegalvin.com) are all formulated to protect colour and are free from SLS, parabens and silicone so they will not strip colour. And referring back to my Condition! Condition! Condition! mantra, if hair is nourished colour will be locked in more effectively. I recommend to all my clients to use a treatment on their hair at least once a week. My formulations are so natural the masque can be left on overnight, adding moisture and shine without weighing the hair down.”

Good and bad examples of brunettes? “I think both Kate Middleton and Samantha Cameron are the perfect brunettes – their hair always looks glossy and vibrant.

Meryl Streep in August : Osage County – the colour is so solid and draining, perfect for her character. There is no movement or tonal quality to the hair which is incredibly ageing and not glamorous.

Cate Blanchett can also look very ‘washed out’ when playing characters with brunette hair as she has such alabaster skin.”

Louise Galvin, colourist extraordinaire, has a client list that reads like an edition of Who’s Who.

Her passion about hair is evident from the moment she starts speaking. Louise is also creator of the carbon-neutral beauty company, Sacred Locks, which was born out of her frustration of finding good hair products on the market. Silicone is her bugbear, which she believes, coats the hair and weighs it down as well as making it look dull. Lacklustre hair certainly piles on the years.

I am a fan of her Nourishing Conditioner for Dry/Damaged Hair (£7.95, louisegalvin.com) which helped restore the over-processed hair which I had when I first went to the Daniel Galvin salon, owned by Louise’s father and where she is based.

After telling her how thrilled I was with it, we got on to the subject of why is it so hard to find a colourist who can do brunettes. (Covering greys will be dealt with in another post.)

Here is what she told me...

Why is it so difficult to colour brunettes? So many colourists can do blondes, but when it comes to brunettes they seem to get it so wrong.

“Most problems start when hair starts to go grey, colourists often are too heavy-handed with colour. Colour can be too dark or too warm (too much red tone). When going grey it is not only the hair pigment that changes. Skin tone and eye tone are lightened in the ageing process and areas of high colour on cheeks and foreheads can appear.

“Brunette hair naturally has a lot of red pigmentation, your colourist will need to neutralise these tones as most brunettes do not want to be too red.

“The most common problem is that many colourists will try to take you back to your natural colour. However with ageing the hue needs to be softer and more flattering. Poorly dyed hair will drain colour from the eyes and skin. My father, Daniel Galvin, has a wonderful quote: ‘The first thing you notice about good hair colour is the colour of your eyes, the first thing you notice about bad hair colour is the colour of your hair!”

How do you achieve a good colour?

“I like to see colour and movement in hair. This is achieved by having multi-tonal lights through the hair with slightly lighter shades around the hairline to lift and brighten the face. It is essential to keep hair in top condition to ensure hair looks youthful and glossy.”

What questions should you ask your colourist to ensure you get perfect results?

“Be firm in telling them you DON’T want colour to look dark and heavy. All too often colourists take the colour throughout the hair when only the roots need to be done. The colour can be massaged through the whole head of hair just for the last five minutes of the process to intensify and refresh it. This will avoid heavy colour build up on the ends of hair.

"Make them aware that you have red tones [naturally in your hair] and do not want to intensify the pigment. What you want is to neutralise the red to give a true brunette. To look natural, they will need to match your colour to your skin tone to achieve the most flattering shade."

Louise Galvin

Carbon Neutral Beauty

Louise Galvin is one of the UK’s top hair colourists. Based at her father’s famous Daniel Galvin salon in London, her talent, skill and eye for colour have been acknowledged by many famous actors, musicians, models and other celebrities who have beaten a path to her door.

Louise has also trained many of the top colourists working all over the world today.